Thank-you Eric
I have too much to say. He probably did something to piss them off. There was no apparent witness, so they gave him what became a fatal beating. His survival becoming lessened by his drug use.

Two or three of the cops were the ringleaders and the main abusers, the rest probably knew what was happening was wrong but were afraid to say anything, because it is a proven fact that the cops that don’t go along with the leaders are ostracized. Esprit-de-corps and all that.

What needs to happen is that cops need training in what is absolutely not acceptable behavior. And they need to be told that these rogue abusive bastards need to be weeded out of the force to restore honor and integrity, once again, to the law enforcement profession.

It’s the cops job to make it look good. The best way to do that is to do the right things. There are too many of these out of control rogue cops. Probably less than 20%, but still too many. They make what would normally a very proud profession look very bad.

I’m not saying that there aren’t a lot of sorry assed worthless people out there, but it is not the cops job to punish them. It’s the cops job to put them into the system. What happens from there is not always right, but it is more right than the cops delivering “Justice” themselves.

What needs to happen is that fuckers using badges as a prop for murder need to go to prison for life. And the fuckers who are such cowards that they go along need to lose their jobs and be disgraced. Fuck training.

Mitch.
I agree with you to a certain extent. However, in the real world you can’t throw the pigs out with the slop. (great pun, huh?) Human nature applies to situations like this. You are condemning an over-reaction with an over-reaction. Sometimes good people get caught up in bad situations. That’s why the law provides for different degrees of crime.

I can promise you that if the two or three cops leading the gang had not been there, this would never have happened.

There is good and evil lurks within the soul of all of us. Most human errors are errors of omission, instead of doing the right thing, we freeze emotionally until it is too late. Mitch, although you are probably better than most, without any reservation I can tell you that in certain circumstances you would also fail to do the right thing, until it was too late.

You’re right that I may be overreacting, and I’m sure you’re right that I might screw up as badly as some of these agents appear to have.

But we are entitled to demand a certain sort of behavior from the people we choose to arm, behavior above and beyond that which we can demand from everyone else. That’s why third graders are taught to admire cops.

When cops act like thugs and get caught, we need to know they will be punished severely. For our safety. This is something I think every member of every minority understands, and people who have never been mistreated by a cop simply don’t get.

This kind of conduct is the product of a lawless corrupt society, period. A classic example of that reality is expressed here by none other than Ernie Branscomb’s normal apologetics. He and his kind are the reason these murderers are justified and never punished. So what is it Eric and Mitch, you don’t see what’s going on here right under your noses?

When I read this article, UCLA
Professor warned about Israel views I thought about a conversation you had with me, Eric. There is a connection to this thread, but I doubt anyone will make it for obvious reasons.

What would you suggest? Eric has put the incident on his personal blog, along with a link to a petition to sign. I’ve signed the petition.

There are a nearly infinite number of injustices. What do you want people to do about this one in particular? What do you want people to do about equivalent injustices locally? I assume similar stuff takes place here, but I don’t have any details of any particular incident that rises to this level.

I can’t speak for Eric, but I agree there’s a problem. I assume he feels there is a problem, or he wouldn’t have bothered to share this disturbing video.

Joe
Don’t put “apologies” in my mouth. I said nothing of the sort. You write good but you read poorly and understand even worse.

The ringleaders should spend a long time in jail. The bystander cops should also be reprimanded and punished for “bystanding”. But, there were mitigating circumstance. Would the man have died if he hadn’t been jacked up on meth? How can that be the cops fault? If he had lived they would not have been charged with murder. The bystanding cops didn’t have time to think, so they did nothing. That doesn’t make them as guilty as the beatdown cops.

You need to get a life Joe. Making cowardly slaps from behind your coward’s curtain is getting old.

Well, for the record, I think we definitely have a problem. I know there are abuses in Humboldt County, but I think the abuses are most accute when there are cultural factors which dehumanize an entire group of people. And I think that illegal immigrants of the Hispanic variety have been particularly demonized with humanity downplayed (this morning Justice Scalia compared them to bank robbers), it makes them easier targets. There would be considerably more rage here if the victim was not an Hispanic illegal immigrant.

The reservation in my tone comes from the defense lawyer in me that rejects condemnation when a lot of facts are missing. Clearly he was tasered while subdued on the ground, and that I can say without qualification it was an evil act. But I don’t know what led up to what we see. I don’t see the actual beating. I can only say that it looks really bad from my vantage point.

I haven’t hit your link about Israel, but I’m pretty sure they weren’t involved in this incident.

Clearly the man needed to be arrested and put into the system. Clearly the cops went FAR beyond what they needed to. I’m not sure that it was racial. maybe the cop that beat him to death was also Hispanic. Granted, there was probably a racial element, but that is not a conclusion that we can jump to. We can easily see that the man was beaten beyond submission, and there was clearly no need for it, beyond that any guesses would be pure conjecture.

If an agent involved in the incident was Hispanic, that does not exclude racism. Racism (or other isms) would come into play if, for example, the man on the ground was from a racial (or other) group that has less power to respond to excessive force by summoning assistance from group members in high places.

Members of minority groups in law enforcement may even take harsher action against members of their own minority group, as a way of showing they are “cops first.”

Regardless of whether racism or any other ism is involved, this sort of police behavior is well known to members of racial and other minorities, much less well known to middle-aged, straight-acting, usually sober white men. That means middle-aged, straight-acting, usually sober white men may not have a very accurate picture of its prevalence.

Cops act different with people of different races, different perceived class, different perceived ability to fight back in court, and different sexual orientation.

Bottom line is cops are hired by and for the people on top of society. They can be decent human beings, but they are hired muscle.

First, my assumption when posting here is that a practicing lawyer is smarter than the average bear. I was wrong. Eric Kirk is known to practice discrimination on his blog for whatever pretense seems to fit his agenda at the time. Which, by the way, that is how the justice system enforces the law too. So, score another one for being right – again. You guys might try practicing what you preach.

So guys, how many dead bodies do we need to rack up in Humboldt County at the hands of the police BEFORE any of you admit to seeing what’s happening? Or is it that none of you read the Times-Standard newspaper?

“What am I doing”? Well, for one thing, I’m pointing out what none of YOU are DOING. Lets not forget Branscomb. I pointed out what he IS doing. Since he doesn’t know who I am personally, he can’t attack me personally, but that doesn’t slow him down much. These, by the way Branscomb, are the words of a arrogant, self-righteous, high and mighty TROLL: “You need to get a life Joe. Making cowardly slaps from behind your coward’s curtain is getting old.”

I’m doing Branscomb and his kind a favor and he, in particular, is too stupid to realize it.

“First, my assumption when posting here is that a practicing lawyer is smarter than the average bear. I was wrong. Eric Kirk is known to practice discrimination on his blog for whatever pretense seems to fit his agenda at the time.”

Let’s look at the above statement through the eye of a stone cold logician. You know how they are.

If we change the quoted passage by replacing the first and third sentences, we can, in some instances, find a similar logical structure. We shall try the following: I thought the thing was green. I was wrong. It was silent.

Most people will probably have a problem with the situation concerning the relationship between the first and third sentence. The good news is that the second sentence retains it’s value as “true”.

Mr. Blow, your treatment of Eric and Ernie is unfortunate. It seems to me that it is far more efficient to seek common ground than to argue over differences. If you decide that what I’m saying smacks of capitulation or some other dastardly sell-out, so be it.

Eric says, “Well, for the record, I think we definitely have a problem. I know there are abuses in Humboldt County, but I think the abuses are most accute when there are cultural factors which dehumanize an entire group of people.”

It’s obvious to me that none of the three, Branscomb, Eric or Mitch read my blog since I write all the time about the very “dehumanized” class the local police abuse. Something I would think a “practicing lawyer” working in Humboldt County would know all about. It took very little association with local police for me to recognize their cultural problem. Reading the above commentary by Branscomb, Eric and Mitch it is easy to see why they concentrated on extraneous issues (not local) that way they can walk on both sides of the issue. No courage there. But then, that’s what comes from a morally and ethically bankrupt society that has for 50 years exploited the profits of a criminal enterprise while publicly proclaiming support for the police and justice system to brutalize and butcher a struggling degraded “dehumanized” class of people – their neighbors.

By the way, you would be quite surprised at the number of people that visit my blogs, and that from all over the world. I know I am.

Joe, they are not talking around the issue. You are. The issue is that another human being was beaten to death by people who ostensibly work for US. If they are not punished it is more likely something like this will happen in the future. Period.

I agree that we live in a society that is brutal, myopic, self serving, and repeatedly manipulated by it’s own pathetic fears. But, it’s nonsensical to say that any group is “morally and ethically bankrupt.” I hate it whenever that pathetic catch phrase is repeated.

Those are subjective concepts. Saying that is akin to saying they are “aesthetically bankrupt” or “opinions bankrupt.” If you wish intelligent people to understand WTF you are babbling about, you need to be specific as to what moralities you wish to have imposed upon society. And why you think they apply to our culture, and how you feel those should be enforced…

Oh, wait! I know… Become a lawyer and/or politician, since that is kind of exactly what they do,